


Bro Meet Ugly

by foramomentonly



Series: Meet Ugly Drabbles and Fics [7]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: College AU, Fluff, M/M, Malex, meet ugly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24717967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foramomentonly/pseuds/foramomentonly
Summary: @prouvaireafterdark sent me this custom Meet Ugly. So this is all on her.Link to the prompt:https://foramomentonly.tumblr.com/post/620717194943299584/michael-forgetting-the-word-hes-looking-for-and
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Meet Ugly Drabbles and Fics [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773934
Comments: 16
Kudos: 111





	Bro Meet Ugly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [prouvaireafterdark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/prouvaireafterdark/gifts).



“Hey, bro, will you, uh, will you take care of me and protect me?”

Alex turns, eyebrows to his hairline. It’s a  _ line _ , and way beyond any that’s ever been used on him in the university rec center weight room in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday. Those usually go something along the lines of  _ Wanna fuck?  _

Alex takes his time looking the guy up and down. He’s boyish, hazel eyes bright and innocent, an expression of earnest confusion on his face that seems permanent, and a mop of messy, golden curls. He’s wearing the typical frat bro workout gear: long, baggy shorts and a tee shirt with the sleeves—along with half the sides—cut off to create a breezy tank top. Alex snorts when he realizes the guy is wearing what remains of a Taylor Swift concert tee. He’s intrigued. And a little horny, truth be told.

“What exactly can I do for you?” Alex purrs, stepping closer and flashing the guy a smile that’s all teeth and innuendo.

“Can you help lift this weight off my shoulders if it ever becomes too much to handle?” 

_ Wow. _ Alex takes a step back, re-considers.

“Uh, listen, the first semester of college can be tough, I get it,” Alex says, a little unsure. “I think that’s something you wanna talk about with someone at the counseling center, though.”

The guy huffs, frustrated, and Alex shakes his head in confusion. 

“No, I mean I’m about to lift these weights over my head. Will you make sure I don’t drop them on my fucking face?” he explains through clenched teeth, gesturing to the weight bench he’s standing next to.

“You mean spot you?” Alex asks, and the guy’s face lights up.

“Yes!” he cries. “Spot! That’s the word!”

Alex laughs, taking another step back and around the bench to position himself behind the weights, hoping the guy doesn’t notice his blush. He definitely kinda wanted to be getting hit on.

“Yeah, sure,” he says. “I got you.”

“Thanks,” the guy replies, relieved, and drops down onto the bench, swinging his long legs over the side. “I’m Michael Guerin, by the way.”

“Alex Manes.”

“Cool,” he smiles, and Alex tries not to be charmed by his toothy grin. “I got you next, if you want.”

“Sure,” Alex says, even though he usually sticks to dumbbells. “Thanks, Guerin.”

“No problem.”

It becomes their thing. Their schedules seem to line up perfectly; every time Alex breezes into the weight room Guerin is already there, guarding the only bench that has a complete set of weights and the least toxic smell permeating the foam padding. They spot one another, trade workout tips, and just talk. Alex learns that Guerin is undeclared at the moment, but he’s interested in agricultural engineering; that he left his found family, a “kinda, sorta adopted” brother and sister, in small-town New Mexico and misses them way more than he expected to; that Guerin is kind, endearingly goofy, a little mysterious, and probably very straight. And also totally oblivious to the fact that Alex is falling in love with him.

Sometimes Alex thinks he must know; Guerin will smile at him, holding his gaze a beat longer than even the most romantic of platonic bros typically do, and his expression softens, his mouth falling gently open, and Alex is sure he  _ must _ have figured it out. But then Guerin will shake his head and the moment's gone, and he's off onto some new tangent or task. Other times, Guerin will flirt  _ shamelessly  _ with one of the women who sometimes approach him, emboldened by the fact that he's always polite,  but he leaves them the fuck alone until  _ they _ hit on  _ him _ , and Alex hopes that he  _ doesn't _ know, that Guerin wouldn't be that cruel.

"So," Guerin says one day while they're wiping down their bench after a workout, "we should probably, like, get a smoothie, maybe dinner, and, like, spend the rest of our lives together, huh?"

Alex shoots Guerin a confused look.

"What?"

He's got that smile on that means he thinks he's being impossibly clever and cute, but his joke is about to be totally over Alex's head. The edges of his smile are weak, the corners of his mouth rising and falling continuously; he's nervous.

"We should spend all our free time together and cherish each other forever," he says, taking a step closer to Alex and offering him a small, hopeful smile.

"Careful," Alex breathes. "If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were asking me out."

"That's exactly what I'm doing, though," Guerin says, taking Alex's hands in his and brushing his thumbs whisper-soft over Alex's knuckles.

Alex pulls in a small, surprised breath and shakes his head at Guerin.

"W-we're  _ friends _ ," Alex argues, but even as he speaks his grip on Guerin's hands tighten. "You asked me to spot you. You flirt with girls right in front of me."

"I  _ talk _ to girls who are flirting with me," Guerin corrects him, bringing a hand up to cup Alex's cheek. "I've never asked one out. I'm asking you."

" _ Were _ you hitting on me the first time we met?" Alex asks, desperate to understand how deep his own apparent stupidity runs. "All that 'care and protect' stuff?"

Guerin huffs an embarrassed laugh.

"Uh, no," he says, "I just needed a spot. Couldn't remember the word."

Alex laughs and Guerin grins wide and happy.

"I thought you were, at first."

"I know," Guerin says. "I, uh, I needed a minute to  _ explore _ that internally."

He pulls Alex gently closer with the hand still resting light on his cheek, gaze flitting to Alex's mouth and back up again.

"So?" Guerin whispers, already brushing his nose softly against Alex's as Alex tips his head forward, eyes sliding shut. "What do you think?"

"What do I think about caring for and protecting you when the weight on your shoulders becomes too much to bear?" Alex breathes with a chuckle, lips brushing Guerin's. He shivers in Guerin's arms.

"No," Guerin replies, thumbing the corner of his mouth. "What do you think about a date?"

Alex doesn't respond except to slip his hands in the gaping sides of Guerin's shirt, slide his palms around Guerin's trim waist, heated skin sweat-slick under his fingertips, and kiss him right there next to the good bench in the weight room of the university rec center on a Thursday afternoon.


End file.
